


You Won't Be Left Alone This Time

by helens78



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Dystopia, Fix-It, Gen, Rescue, Time Travel, Tumblr snippet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-23
Updated: 2012-07-23
Packaged: 2017-11-10 13:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/466936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helens78/pseuds/helens78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik's come through time to find Charles Xavier; he's the only man who can save the future.  First, though, Erik needs to save Charles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Won't Be Left Alone This Time

**Author's Note:**

> On Tumblr, [Cesare](http://codenamecesare.tumblr.com) posted [a link](http://codenamecesare.tumblr.com/post/27831091128/regeneration-only-james-mcavoy-by-maytaya) to [this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WI1iFu_A1E), in which James McAvoy is tied to a post and abandoned.
> 
> Ces wanted a fixit, and of course my first thought was "Erik will save him thanks to TIME TRAVEL!" Ahem.

The young man is barely conscious by the time Erik gets to him. Erik's heart pounds with fear; he came as quickly as he could, the collective memories of everyone from all the different timelines said this was the moment to find Charles Xavier and bring him back to safety, but Xavier looks pale and broken, his breath shallow, his body slumped to the side.

When Erik slices through the rope binding him, Xavier's arms fall loosely to the ground, and he pitches over into Erik's lap, moaning.

«Charles,» Erik thinks at him, projecting the way he's been taught, projecting _what_ he's been taught. «Charles, I'm here. You're safe. No one is ever going to hurt you again.»

Weakly, Xavier clutches at him. «I couldn't stop them,» flares into Erik's mind. «I tried. They were ready, somehow, I couldn't make them stop, they knew what I was, don't hurt me, please, I don't want to die here...»

Erik scoops Charles up in his arms. He's so light, so thin— but this is the man that the best minds of the future believe can save them all. «You won't,» Erik thinks. «I have you now. You're coming with me.»

Xavier presses his face against Erik's chest, one arm slipping around Erik's neck. «Anywhere but here. Please, Erik.»

Erik startles a bit, but he's known all along that Xavier was a telepath; it's no surprise that he's pulled Erik's name from him.

«You're safe now,» he promises Xavier. He's known all along what to say, because he was given instructions on how to do this, how to get Xavier back to the timeline Erik left, but he didn't realize how much he'd mean those words, once he got here. Xavier feels frail and helpless, and Erik feels more than just the protective instinct he had when he believed this man was the world's future, wrapped up in a single person's mind and body. His promises are even more fervent when he sends, «Safe with me. Safe to be who you are.»

«Thank you,» Xavier sends, holding tightly to Erik.

For a moment, Erik simply lets himself feel that hold, lets Charles feel the strength and safety in his own arms. But that moment passes, and Erik presses against the Earth— this part, unlike the travel through time that he's survived already, unlike the trip that awaits them— easy and familiar, and he uses the Earth's magnetic fields to lift them both up into the air.


End file.
